Students
provide international flare to holidays
By Tina Page
On-line Forty-Niner
Christmas
is a time for Santa Claus, outdoor lights,
pine trees, decorations and, most importantly,
being safe at home with the family. For
foreign students away from their families
and homes, Christmas can also be a time
to reflect on Christmases back home, and
the different ways in which they celebrate
in the United States.
Firas Hamze came to the United States five
years ago to study. He moved here from Tripoli,
Lebanon and spoke very little English. He
will receives his degree in chemical engineering
at the end of this year.
“Christmas and holidays for me in this country
were not too pleasant,” Hamze said. “I didn’t
have my family to hang out with. It’s totally
different.”
Hamze also highlighted some of the similarities
between Christmas in Tripoli and Christmas
in Long Beach.
“Where I am from, the Christians celebrate
feasting after dark during Ramadan with
the Muslims and the Muslims celebrate during
Christmas,” Hamze said. “They are more like
social gatherings than religious ones.”
People in Lebanon indulge in some of the
same practices as those in the United States.
Santa Claus is a prevalent fixture at shopping
areas, but in Lebanon, he is known as Papa
Noel. Christmas tree sales skyrocket.
“Back home my grandmother had a huge cactus
tree that we would use as our Christmas
tree,” Hamze said. “Even though I was born
Muslim, we still celebrated with my grandmother,
who was Christian.”
Long Thu never had a problem being away
from home during Christmas time. He moved
here with his family when he was 10 from
Cambodia where Christmas is virtually nonexistent.
“Usually we would just go to an Asian restaurant,”
Thu said. “They were always really crowded
on Christmas and we would feel like we wanted
to do something.”
Last year, his family exchanged gifts and
bought a tree, but this is something new
for his family.
“You just get used to it,” Thu said. “You
go to school [where] it’s a different world
and then you come home and you speak Khmer.”
Maria Escobar is a little closer to home
than many of Cal State Long Beach’s foreign
student population. Escobar is from Mexicali,
Mexico. She moved here 13 years ago and
is currently working to obtain a teaching
degree. A Mexican Christmas shares a lot
of the same characteristics as an American
one, except that tradition and culture are
more apparent.
“In Mexico, we celebrate on Christmas Eve,”
Escobar explained. “We go to church in the
morning, we have dinner, we start going
through the stockings and at midnight we
start opening gifts.”
Mexican Christmas tradition includes lots
of tamales, a pinata and a pozada, where
people act out the nativity scene and carry
candles. Christmas Day is spent sleeping
in late and getting together with the family
again to have dinner.
“Christmas here is not so different from
Christmas in Mexicali,” Escobar said.
“I miss the rest of my family but my brother’s
family and ours still celebrate the same
way here in the U.S.”
Christmas is most definitely optional, and
the options are endless. From Lebanon to
Cambodia to our close neighbor Mexico, Christmas
is celebrated—or not—in many different ways.
No matter where it is celebrated though,
people who have seemingly nothing in common
can at least be brought together by the
promise of good food and a good party.
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